Free Web NovelChapter 35: Heart-Shaped Box
SOPHIA fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
The carriage driver helped us put our purchases into the boot. After we were done, I told him, "We need to return in two hours to pick up a prescription. Right now, we’re going to the tea cake shop."
"Which one, Madam?" asked the driver.
I hadn’t considered there would be more than one tea cake shop. "The one closest to the school. It used to be run by a woman named Mrs. Spool."
"Oh, the Spool Tea Shop and Bakery," said Hannah. "They have the best tea cakes in town. Mrs. Spool passed away, so her daughter runs it now." She pointed down the road. "It’s not on the town square. It’s a bit further on this road, about five minutes, I should think."
"Excellent. Take us there, please."
"Yes, Madam." He opened the door and helped us both into carriage.
A few moments later, we were on our way to the Spool bakery. In no time at all, we were pulling up to the adorable little shop with its pink exterior. The building looked like the witch’s gingerbread house in the fairy tale about Hansel and Gretel.
Inside, the smells were divine. One side of the shop had tiny tables with tall chairs where tea and treats were served. On the other side were the displays for pre-made goods. Hannah browsed that section while I went to the counter to inquire about the little tea cakes I’d once bought there as a child.
The owner was cheerful woman shaped like a dumpling, chubby and soft and adorable. Her cheeks were reddened from working in the hot kitchen, but her blue gaze sparkled with what I could only describe as pure joy.
She wiped her hands on the red apron around her waist as she came to the counter. "May I help you?"
"I used to buy cakes here when I was a little girl." I nodded toward the direction of the school. "I attended the school nearby and apparently stopped into the shop every afternoon before returning home."
"Where’s your home then?"
"Chapter House," I said.
"Oh, my goodness! You must be Sophia Pagemoore. What a lovely young woman you are. My mother would’ve been so pleased to see how well you turned out."
"I understand Mrs. Spool passed away. My condolences."
"Thank you. It’s been years since Mum died, but I appreciate your blessings all the same." Her smile was warm and sweet. "I always wondered if you ever married that boy who walked you home every afternoon. Never seen any lad that smitten with a girl before or since. Felt like the forever kind of love, you know."
I blinked at her. "Do you know who he was? Jace Willowmarch perhaps?"
Her smiled dimmed for a tiny second. "Him? No. He wasn’t the type to care much for anyone but himself. Bit of a ruffian, that one. I’m talking about the other boy. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Looked at you like you hung the moon. He was a bit older than you."
"Do you remember his name?"
She squinted as though doing so would let her look into the past. Finally, she shook her head. "No, I’m sorry. I don’t think he was a local, though. Come to think of it, the two of you only came to the shop for about a year." She nodded. "Yes, that’s right. My own daughter was younger than you, so she wasn’t in school then..." She paused while she thought some more. "Didn’t you take ill? There was a sickness going around the village at the time."
"That was the Cardigill Ick," said an older woman who was shopping in the pre-made section of the tea shop. She came up to the counter. "Family named Cardigill came by ship to the Capital, sick as dogs. Half the Capital got it. Mostly affected children. Some of ’em died."
"How did it get to Velvetleaf?" I asked. "We’re six hours away from the Capital."
"That Willowmarch boy got it. They confined him at Amaranth Manor before it spread to the village, but the Pagemoores were visiting, and all three of their children took sick. Their daughter suffered from it something awful. Almost died."
I had almost died as a little girl from a disease given to me by Jace? Not that getting sick was his fault, it just seemed another reason we were ill-fated from the very beginning. What good memories did I have with him?
"I think he was sent to the military camp after he recovered," said the woman who’d joined our conversation. "Good riddance. He was a menace as a child."
"Not much better as a man," came a voice from one of the tea tables. "Left that poor bride of his living with the mistress. Can you imagine?"
Yes, I certainly could given I was the poor bride. Did everyone in Velvetleaf know my humiliation?
"Don’t worry none," said the tea shop owner. "Say what you will about Jace Willowmarch, his family still provides for this village. Too many of us rely on the Willowmarches for our living to speak ill of them." Her gaze went to the gossiper who’d just piped up. "Now, dear, did you want to order something?"
The other woman who’d come to the counter wandered back to the display shelves.
"Your last name isn’t Spool, is it?" I asked. "Did you marry?"
She laughed. "’Course I did. Not a Spool anymore. I’m a Rogers. But my mother’s name is on this bakery and that’s the way it’ll stay."
"Mrs. Rogers, I wondered if you still made the tea cakes I ordered as a child." frёewebηovel.cѳm
She shook her head. "Those were special ordered by the boy who walked with you. What was his name? This memory of mine. I have a knack for remembering recipes, not people. Those cakes were heart-shaped. Made with rose petals and strawberries. Bit of chocolate in there, too. Your sweetheart was young, but he had money enough to pay for a batch of those cakes to be made every week."
What if I ate the cakes again? Would the flavors ignite some memories? Excited, I leaned over the counter. "Mrs. Rogers, do you think you can make them again?"
